


He is Proud

by tiaylasglass



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Angst with a Happy Ending, Good Older Sibling Alec Lightwood, Isabelle Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, Mild Hurt/Comfort, i wrote this at 3am, magnus and izzy friendship, mentions of homphobia, they talk about alec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 12:01:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11440458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiaylasglass/pseuds/tiaylasglass
Summary: Magnus and Izzy have a drink together and discuss Alec. Magnus learns a lot about his boyfriend and Izzy learns something too.





	He is Proud

“Max and Alec are close?” Magnus queried one night as he sipped at the cocktail in his hand. Izzy nodded.  
  
“The closest,” she said. “You know we don’t have the greatest parents. Alec took it upon himself to raise us all right, though Max was the only one he taught right from the get-go.”  
  
“I didn’t know that,” Magnus said.  
  
“It’s true,” Izzy downed the rest of her glass and placed it on the table. “I think Alec does it so that none of us have to go through what he did.”  
  
“Repressing himself?” Magnus guessed. Izzy shrugged.  
  
“In a way. He’s always carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Even when he was only child. Every mistake was punished. Our mistakes were put on him.”  
  
“Your mistakes?”  
  
“Mum always claimed it was teaching him responsibility for when he will be given the position of Head of the Institute.”  
  
“You don’t believe her.” Magnus said.  
  
“When he comes back hours later with bloodshot eyes and Iratzes covering his arms it becomes difficult to believe anything our parents claim.”  
  
“They hurt him?” Magnus hated how easy it was to believe it.  
  
“Jace and I, we think he’s so over-protective of Max because he couldn’t bear the idea of Max going through what he did. He taught Max how to talk to his elders respectfully but also made sure he didn't grow up believing every prejudiced word they preached.”  
  
Izzy bit her lip and hesitated before continuing. “As part of our training we’re taught the history of the Shadow World. They glorify Shadowhunters and demonise Downworlders. Some of us saw through it from the beginning. Alec was one of them,” she said with a small smile. It faded when she said, “he learned the hard way not to question his learnings.”  
  
“Did he tell Max?”  
  
“He gave Max proper history lessons without the 'Shadowhunters are the heroes' mentality. They used to sit up until obscene hours talking. I could hear them through the walls,” Izzy laughed softly. “But Alec told him to never correct his teachers. Max listened to him, thank the angels.”  
  
“I can’t imagine Alec being cosy with children,” Magnus admitted. He loved Alec more than anything but even he had to admit he struggled to picture Alec being comfortable around kids.   
  
“He’s amazing with children,” Izzy informed him. “You’ll be amazed. He acts like a hard-ass all the time but truly he’s a big softy. He reads to Max most nights. He even sings to him when he can’t sleep.”  
  
“Alec singing? Are we still talking about tall, dark and grumpy?” Magnus laughed. He was genuinely surprised at what he was learning from Izzy.  
  
“I didn’t believe it either when Max told me. Then one night I woke up to Max crying. I was about to walk in but I could see through the crack of the door that Alec was already in there holding Max in his arms. That was another thing the two had in common – they both had terrible nightmares.”  
  
Magnus in agreement. Alec had nightmares regularly, though it was rare for them to wake Magnus from his sleep. The only sign of his nightmares were the dark bags that made a regular appearance under Alec’s eyes.  
  
“Alec just sat there, rocking Max slowly and singing softly. His voice is beautiful,” Izzy added. “You should get him to sing to you.”  
  
“I’ll keep that in mind.”  
  
“Anyway,” Izzy cleared her throat. “Those two are birds of a feather. They were inseparable until our parents found out…” she trailed off. Magnus waited patiently for her to continue. “We didn’t find out until a short time ago why Max was relocated to a different Institute. Our parents found out that Alec was gay. I don’t know how, Alec hates talking about it. But they found out and the next day Max didn’t turn up to breakfast.”  
  
“They made Max leave because Alec’s gay?” Magnus said in disbelief.  
  
“Dad said something about the amount of time Alec spent with Max. He said he was ‘worried Max would join Alec in his homosexual inclinations’.”  
  
“I never like Robert,” Magnus said, glaring at the empty glass in front of him.  
  
“He’s my dad,” Izzy said sadly. “I love him. But the things he did… the things he _said_ , I can never forgive him for that.”  
  
Magnus waved down the waitress for another cocktail. Izzy asked for one too.  
  
“Thank you, by the way.” Magnus met her eyes in confusion. “Alec wasn’t okay before he met you. I was worried. Jace was terrified for him. They’re parabatai. He could feel Alec’s sadness and pain. Alec was reckless – more so than he is now.”  
  
“Impossible,” Magnus snorted half-heartedly. One quality he admired about his boyfriend was his tendency to act incredibly selflessly. It was also a quality he hated.  
  
“You’d think so,” Izzy said. “He almost died so many times. If he hadn’t met you I doubt he would be alive right now.” Magnus didn’t know what to say to that. “But he did meet you and he’s happier than I’ve ever seen him. So thank you.”  
  
“Izzy…” Magnus shook his head fondly. The love the Lightwood siblings had for each other would never cease to amaze him. “Alec is so lucky to have you.”  
  
“You think?” she asked, a hint of insecurity hidden in the question.  
  
“I know so. He loves you too,” he told her. “Sure, he’s parabatai with Jace and he works hard to protect Max, but you’re the one he talks the most about.”  
  
“He does?” Izzy’s eyes were slightly wide in surprise. Magnus smiled at her.  
  
“All the time. He’s proud of you,” Magnus felt his heart swell at the way Izzy’s eyes lit up. He knew from Alec’s stories that Izzy rarely – if ever – received praise from their parents. Hearing that her older brother was proud of her made her feel incredibly happy.  
  
“Alec’s… he is?”  
  
“He always tells me the story of the time you chose the whip to be your weapon.” Izzy laughed at the memory. “He told me he was so proud that you didn’t listen to your father when he told you to choose the Seraph blade.”  
  
“I didn’t know he even remembered that day,” Izzy admitted.  
  
“You had a Clave representative on the ground begging for mercy because he made a comment about you being to ‘girly’ to use a weapon like that.”  
  
“Alec dragged the guy out to the infirmary. I thought he was mad at first. He never said anything.”  
  
“He couldn’t exactly encourage you. Imagine what the Clave would’ve thought if he’d told you how proud he was that you weren’t taking shit from anyone, even Clave members,” Magnus said.  
  
“I never thought he was proud of me,” Izzy said quietly. “I wanted him to be. But I didn’t think I was good enough for him.”  
  
“He was so mad every time your mother made you feel like you weren’t good enough. Did he tell you about the time he shouted at her?”  
  
“What? No?”  
  
“It was after Clary’s arrival, when you changed yourself to fit your mother’s ideals. He was so mad that one day after she made some comment about your clothing he snapped.”  
  
“He snapped?” Izzy repeated doubtfully.  
  
“I overheard some of it, actually. I was there to meet with Robert and heard him shouting as I passed.”  
  
“And being the person you are you just had to listen in?” Izzy’s eyes gleamed in amusement and curiosity.  
  
“Would you expect any less?” Magnus smirked. “Alec let her know exactly what he thinks. He loves that you were comfortable enough with yourself to dress as you pleased. He loves that you don’t let men walk all over you. And he is so proud of how strong you are.”  
  
“I think I’m a little drunk,” Izzy sniffed as she reached for the glass the waitress had just placed in front of her. She blinked back tears as she gulped a mouthful of her beverage, wincing slightly at the burn. “This is strong,” she commented.  
  
“You know, he told me you were the first one to know he was gay.”  
  
Izzy nodded with a small smile. “He was so scared. It was probably the worst point in his life. He was repressing himself while having to face the consequences for mine and Jace’s actions during our rebellious phase.”  
  
“But he had you to help him through it all. I don’t think he would’ve been able to summon the courage it took to kiss me that day if it weren’t for your support.”  
  
“He would’ve figured himself out eventually,” Izzy shrugged modestly.  
  
“Maybe. It was better that he had you there. I… I have to be honest, I didn’t know a lot of what you’ve told me today about what he was going through. But if anything I appreciate all of what you did to help him even more now.”  
  
“I didn’t do much.”  
  
“No. You just gave him your unconditional support and love. Something he didn’t have from anyone else.” Magnus stared pointedly at her, holding eye contact as he spoke. “You saved him. Maybe I did too, but you were there for him when he needed it most. You’re truly something special, Isabelle.”  
  
“He’s my brother. He’ll always have my support.”  
  
“I know. And you will always have his.”  
  
“Damn it,” she sniffed. “I can’t believe I’m crying right now.” Magnus smiled sympathetically. Not because he saw crying as something to be ashamed of or to be hidden, but rather because he knew that her tears were the result of years of believing she wasn’t good enough for anyone until now. __  
  
“Alec’s picking you up,” Magnus said softly a minute later after sending a quick text. Normally he would simply let Izzy rest in a room in his apartment but this time he knew she needed to see her brother.  
  
“Thank you,” she said again, but this time it wasn’t for her brother. It was for herself. Magnus gave her another smile and the two sipped their drinks once again.  
  
“Alexander,” Magnus’ eyes lit up as he saw Alec walking their way. Alec leaned down to press a quick kiss to Magnus’ lips and turned to Izzy, wrapping an arm around her.  
  
“Hey you two,” he said with a smile.  
  
“Hey, Alec,” Izzy smiled. Alec furrowed his eyebrows slightly, seeing something different in her eyes. He shrugged it off. He would ask her about it later.  
  
“I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but Izzy, we need to get going.”  
  
“Why?” she asked.  
  
“We have a meeting in Idris tomorrow morning.”  
  
“I thought only you and Jace had to go?” Izzy frowned.  
  
“The Inquisitor said I could bring along someone I trust,” he shrugged. “I trust you.”  
  
“I… but Jace?” she blinked in shock.  
  
“Well, of course I trust Jace too. But…” he shrugged.  
  
“But what?”  
  
“But he’s not you,” he said. Magnus felt himself smile widely as Izzy turned and wrapped her arms tightly around her brother. He met Alec’s confused eyes over her shoulder and mouthed ‘take her home’. Alec nodded and promised to call him before going to bed.  
  
Magnus watched them both leave, Izzy’s head resting on Alec’s shoulder and an arm wrapped around each other's waist. He understood Jace’s and Alec’s love for each other; they were brothers and, even more, parabatai. But Alec and Izzy were on a different level. There was nothing that could compare to the love between brother and sister.

**Author's Note:**

> I need to edit this still but it's almost 5am so I'll do it tomorrow (today?). Thank you for reading!!


End file.
